Are notifications for non-apps different?

I was utterly convinced I was missing notifications and was going to book a Genius Bar appointment to get a replacement watch, but I'm starting to think it may just be that notifications that come from iPhone apps that have no actual Watch app are different.

For example I quite often check my Watch and see the little red dot and think "that's weird, my phone didn't vibrate or make a noise", and it turns out to be Snapchat or some such iPhone app.

But then I'll get an Activity notification from the Watch or an iMessage, etc, and it most definitely does vibrate and make a noise.

Have I got a faulty Watch or is there some setting somewhere causing notifications from non-native apps to be missed?

I was utterly convinced I was missing notifications and was going to book a Genius Bar appointment to get a replacement watch, but I'm starting to think it may just be that notifications that come from iPhone apps that have no actual Watch app are different.

For example I quite often check my Watch and see the little red dot and think "that's weird, my phone didn't vibrate or make a noise", and it turns out to be Snapchat or some such iPhone app.

But then I'll get an Activity notification from the Watch or an iMessage, etc, and it most definitely does vibrate and make a noise.

Have I got a faulty Watch or is there some setting somewhere causing notifications from non-native apps to be missed?

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You should get an actual notification for any iPhone app (regardless of watch app) that has banner notifications enabled.

I think (I haven't tested) but if you have some phone notifications that you don't have set up to buzz and you mirror on the watch, then they won't tap you on the watch.

My hypothesis is this: if it buzzes and shows on lock screen on the phone, it will tap you. If it doesn't do both, the watch won't notify you.

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If you're hypothesis is correct, there's something wrong with my Apple Watch - I've got notifications on the phone, shown on the lock screen, shown on the Apple Watch but they do not buzz or make a sound on the Watch

My girlfriend just sent me a Snapchat. It said "Delivered" on her phone.

Waited a few seconds, no buzz or noise on my Watch. Lifted my wrist, small red "missed notification" dot is there. Dragged down to check what it was, sure enough it's a Snapchat from her, 1 minute ago.

My girlfriend just sent me a Snapchat. It said "Delivered" on her phone.

Waited a few seconds, no buzz or noise on my Watch. Lifted my wrist, small red "missed notification" dot is there. Dragged down to check what it was, sure enough it's a Snapchat from her, 1 minute ago.

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This happens to me too. Just got a notification from Simple, my bank app. No tap or anything. Lifted my wrist and had the notification dot.

My girlfriend just sent me a Snapchat. It said "Delivered" on her phone.

Waited a few seconds, no buzz or noise on my Watch. Lifted my wrist, small red "missed notification" dot is there. Dragged down to check what it was, sure enough it's a Snapchat from her, 1 minute ago.

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my Amex does this. I do not get a buzz/noise despite it being on everywhere. I think it is on the apps end, not the watch. Facebook is the same way for me.

Apple Support asked if Snapchat notifications were coming through ok to my phone, I said yes. But when I checked (by sending another Snapchat from g/f's phone) I realised they're not - my iPhone 6 is not buzzing or making a sound when her Snapchat messages comes in!

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Just testing here, my iPhone 6 isn't buzzing or making a noise at all when Snapchats come in. Tried with mute switch on and off

Apple Support asked if Snapchat notifications were coming through ok to my phone, I said yes. But when I checked (by sending another Snapchat from g/f's phone) I realised they're not - my iPhone 6 is not buzzing or making a sound when her Snapchat messages comes in!

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Just testing here, my iPhone 6 isn't buzzing or making a noise at all when Snapchats come in. Tried with mute switch on and off

This is happening to me too - the Fitbit app in my case. It's consistent, I haven't had any notifications sound or tap from the Fitbit app since I started wearing my Apple watch (4/24), though the red dot appears so the notifications are getting through OK.

On the iPhone, notifications for the app are set as they were before when I was using a Pebble Steel, when notifications worked perfectly, and the same as other apps.

What may be curious is that the Fitbit app notification options don't have an option for the selection of the specific sound, as the Mail app and Messages, etc have. I don't know if that is significant or not though!

Any app that doesn't use sounds for push notifications (Snapchat, Fitbit, Instagram, etc.) will NEVER make a taptic notification or sound on the Watch. It only gives feedback when the iPhone is locked and the notification would have made noise in the first place (regardless of whether the silent switch is active).

Pebble handles notifications differently- it vibrates for every notification whether it makes noise on the iPhone or not.

Any app that doesn't use sounds for push notifications (Snapchat, Fitbit, Instagram, etc.) will NEVER make a taptic notification or sound on the Watch. It only gives feedback when the iPhone is locked and the notification would have made noise in the first place (regardless of whether the silent switch is active).

Pebble handles notifications differently- it vibrates for every notification whether it makes noise on the iPhone or not.

Tuck

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Tuck, thanks - that makes perfect sense.

However, I always did get sounds/vibration for Fitbit notifications on the iPhone before. The problem is that these notifications are too irregular to make testing ideas all that viable, otherwise I'd un-pair the watch and see what happened then.

After Apple had me Reset All Settings on iPhone, the Watch would no longer work with regards to any app that needed Internet (Weather, etc) even though it was connected via Bluetooth.

I unpaired Watch from phone, but it wouldn't re-pair, so I reset Watch back to factory settings and restored from backup. The Watch is now working again in terms of Internet, etc, but I still get silent, missed notifications (this time from Gumtree).

Could other people test with Snapchat? It's easy to to test as you can send a message whenever you want.

What Tuck said is making it sound like this is all expected behaviour?

Ensure you have "Sounds" enabled in the notifications setting on the specified App on the iPhone. I just tested this using the Outlook for iOS app. I disabled sounds and locked my phone, and sent myself a test email. Red dot appeared, but no vibration or sound on the watch. Then I enabled sounds on the iPhone in Outlook and locked my phone. Sent another test message and this time my watch vibrated and made a sound.

So the banner setting on the iPhone corresponds to the red dot on the watch and sounds corresponds to vibrate/sound (depending if the watch is on mute).

Ensure you have "Sounds" enabled in the notifications setting on the specified App on the iPhone. I just tested this using the Outlook for iOS app. I disabled sounds and locked my phone, and sent myself a test email. Red dot appeared, but no vibration or sound on the watch. Then I enabled sounds on the iPhone in Outlook and locked my phone. Sent another test message and this time my watch vibrated and made a sound.

So the banner setting on the iPhone corresponds to the red dot on the watch and sounds corresponds to vibrate/sound (depending if the watch is on mute).

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